Barys will likely face their former third goalie Alexei Ivanov who will guard Spartak net. This is a nice subplot to the game, as Ivanov wasn't given a single game in Astana. After leaving Kazakhstan (and somehow becoming an international player for their NT), he last season took VHL by storm in Angarsk posting insane GAA and thus earning a gig in KHL once again.

There could be 0.5 teams in Moscow and that wouldn't help with attendances.

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That's not the point, is it? I meant: if the Moscow population doesn't care about hockey, why have 3 KHL teams in Moscow? Would there be an outrage if only 1 Moscow team was playing in the KHL, and the other two in the VHL?

I have no idea -- I'm only asking. I just can't imagine NHL teams from New York or Los Angeles with average attendances of 2 or 3 thousand people... They'd get booted out of the NHL pretty fast.

That's not the point, is it? I meant: if the Moscow population doesn't care about hockey, why have 3 KHL teams in Moscow? Would there be an outrage if only 1 Moscow team was playing in the KHL, and the other two in the VHL?

I have no idea -- I'm only asking. I just can't imagine NHL teams from New York or Los Angeles with average attendances of 2 or 3 thousand people... They'd get booted out of the NHL pretty fast.

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Its because all of the three Moscow team marketing staff`s suck at their job and because no one wants to go to barns like CSKA arena(good that they are getting a new one) or Moscow Dynamo arena.

That's not the point, is it? I meant: if the Moscow population doesn't care about hockey, why have 3 KHL teams in Moscow? Would there be an outrage if only 1 Moscow team was playing in the KHL, and the other two in the VHL?

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You have to take history into consideration. booting any of the 3 Moscow teams to the VHL would mean a shiatstorm of biblical proportions. There have to be some different solution. I admit I can't think of one.

I have no idea -- I'm only asking. I just can't imagine NHL teams from New York or Los Angeles with average attendances of 2 or 3 thousand people... They'd get booted out of the NHL pretty fast.

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Now this is a very often (mis)used NHL comparison remark. Just look at how long it took Atlanta to lose a team. Nobody is talking about Florida being booted anywhere and their attendance is sad to say the least by NHL standards. Phoenix is being saved and saved again by the league, despite all the problems. The reasons are quite similar. It was the league(Bettman: l'etat c'est moi!) policy of moving south to conquer new markets, so they are hanging on to it even it is obviously a bad joke in some places. The KHL won't give up on Moscow franchises either.

@penepi
those shots were ridiculously harmless, avangard did not have any space to make a decent play in our zone so they just shot the puck out of sheer desperation... medvescak, as in all games this season, likes to go for the perfect pass and thus has fewer shots

Interesting situation in the Western Conference now: 8 potential play-off teams clearly separated from the rest. The remaining 6 teams are rather close together. If Slovan defeats Admiral for 3 points tomorrow (I don't think they will), they would basically jump from rank #14 to #9-11.

In other words: one of the current top 8 Western teams would need to start losing heavily in order for one of the 6 current bottom teams to have a chance at a play-off spot. My best bet, based on recent history, would be Spartak Moscow.

It's still very early in the season, though, and the table can look drastically different in 2 months from today.